My first impression of this slice of pristine countryside on New Zealand's South Island is that we've been transported back to the Northern Hemisphere...

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

As I approached the perfectly round door of my motel unit, I thought of that first line in J.R.R.Tolkien's epic novel, The Hobbit. I was staying in my very own Hobbit hole at Woodlyn Park in Waitomo, New Zealand. The little home built into the ground was the perfect beginning to my quest to discover Tolkien's fantastic Middle-Earth.

As a young reader, I was transported to a wondrous land of magical and terrifying characters in the richly drawn landscape of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books. In my imagination I accompanied the diminutive Hobbits on every step of Bilbo Baggins's trek from his darling home in the Shire to the desolate Lonely Mountains, and Frodo Baggins's subsequent journey to the treacherous Modor.

So it was with trepidation I bought tickets for Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Rings on the big screen years ago. Jackson's decision to film in his native New Zealand was brilliant, as the youngest geographical locale on Earth contains varied landscapes perfectly suited to represent the barren wastelands, soaring mountain ranges and sundappled forests of Tolkien's work.

A decade after the first of the blockbuster trilogy was released, companies such as Red Carpet Tours still do bustling business offering "Ringers" 12-day tours with nationwide itineraries. "Fans will travel by minicoach, experiencing behind the scenes glimpses of the film locations, overnight stays at the same hotels once used by cast and crew, and plenty of opportunities to experience New Zealand's famous Maori culture and adventure tourism options," says Vic James, the managing director.

In my quest to follow in the footsteps of Hobbits and see as many filming locations as possible in just a few days, I travelled with just the official Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook as my co-pilot. I naively believed I'd be able to literally follow some of the hobbits' route, but quickly discovered that their route is no more than film trickery, with hundreds of locales used to create the seamless journey as depicted in the books.

When native Kiwi Ian Brodie heard that his country would be the backdrop for the filming of his favourite books, he approached New Line Productions with a request to shadow the film crew and pen a guidebook. "I could see the potential for tourism," recalled Brodie when I met him at Hobbiton Movie Set, near the Waikato town of Matamata. "The first print run was 20,000 copies, and we sold 19,000 in the first weekend. To date we've sold nearly half a million copies."

Many of these book buyers make the Hobbiton Movie Set their first film set stop, as did I. Concealed in the middle of a working 485-hectare private sheep ranch is the 4-hectare Shire Bilbo and Frodo Baggins called home. "All of the film sets were temporary," explains Brodie . "This was all to be destroyed at the end of filming, but some people realized there could be some tourism opportunities."

The family that owned the property went to New Line and arranged to keep the Shire, but the deal came too late to save half of the facades, which had already been removed. However, the party tree, the shire's lake and the mill and Bilbo's house at Bag End remained, and have drawn hundreds of thousands of tourists over the years.

I strolled peacefully through pastoral dells and sat in miniature Hobbit gardens, marvelling over the more than 30 charming, brightly painted facades of Hobbit holes.

A few days later, more than 1,400 kilometres away, I found myself holding on for dear life in a four-wheel drive Jeep careening around a historic gold mining road.

On a Nomad Safaris tour , our driver was navigating boulders up the Arrow River, the location where Frodo made his last flight to cross the waters of the Bruinen to reach the safety of Elrond's home in Rivendell.

Nestled around an inlet on Lake Wakatipu, the popular adventure tourism destination is overshadowed by the Remarkables mountain range on the lake's southeastern shore, which featured prominently in the trilogy as the Misty Mountains, among others.

We disembarked frequently to compare the stunning scenery with the still set photos in the location guidebook.

I didn't make it as far south as Wellington. There I could have toured Peter Jackson's physical effects company, Weta Workshop, and headed just north of the capital to picnic by the river at Rivendell, temporary home of the elves in Middle-earth, in Kaitoke Regional Park.

If You Go

- Getting there: Air New Zealand flies direct non-stop from Vancouver to Auckland two to four times a week (changes seasonally) and also offers convenient non-stop flights through other North American gateways.

- Resources: newzealand.com is New Zealand's official tourism website. The site includes suggestions for planning a trip centred around Lord of the Rings highlights.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.